My Cheap God.
I’ve marked Him down. I have put Him on clearance. I have slashed Him with a red marker. I have put Him on sale. I’ve put Him in the front because I want the attention, so He will sell quicker.
I have sold Him for less than He is worth.
I have made Him cheap.
I realized while brushing my hair this morning (that’s right, one of those super divine moments) I don’t get to experience so many beauties of God. I strip Him of His power in my life time and time again. I puff up and take on the roles that He is—except that I personify them.
per·son·i·fy
- per·son·i·fied, per·son·i·fy·ing, per·son·i·fies
- To think of or represent as having personality or the qualities,
thoughts, or movements of a living person.
WE CAN’T PERSONIFY GOD’S DIVINE CHARACTER.
If we attempt to personify Him, what we do is we take Him out of the spiritual and divine realm and invite Him into the earthly and fleshly one. By doing this, we cannot possibly allow God to move into our life because we keep meeting something divine with an earthly and personified way of thinking and believing. They don’t match. They can’t.
So time and time again, we experience a cheap version of God because we just won’t let Him be divine. We have to be able to feel like we have control over a situation. He has to be brought to our level. We have to be able to make sense of the situation. We have to see it to believe it. We have to be able to touch it. We need a time frame. We need the ins and outs of the whole situation first. He needs our opinion. He needs to personify it.
Unfortunately when we do that—we put Him on clearance. We strip Him from worth.
And let’s be honest, the god we sell, isn’t the true God we know.
HE IS DIVINE. In every sense of the word.
So, we have got to stop marking Him down, slashing Him with red and putting Him in the front of our stores like He is something that can be changed.
All I know is, I can’t expect God to show up if I don’t start showing up in His divine world.
If I want healing—I must show up in His divine presence. That’s what healing is; it’s divine.
If I want restoration—I must show up in His divine presence. That’s what restoring is—it’s about divinity.
If I want hope—I must show up in His divine presence. That’s where hope lies, in our divine God.
God can give us what we believe in, but what is it that you are believing in?
His divine hope or your personified hope?
His divine healing or your personified healing?
His divine grace or your personified grace?
His divine forgiveness or your personified forgiveness?
Because allow me to say this—when you believe in things that we have personified you get the cheap, watered down, clearance, slashed version of it.
Divine hope heals, last, and makes new. Personified hope is temporary, confuses, and let’s down again.
Divine healing restores, makes whole, and cleanses. Personified healing patches things up, covers them up and leaves space for dirt to come again.
Divine grace is unconditional, builds life and makes you white again. Personified grace is conditional, temporary, and resurfaces bringing condemnation with it.
Divine forgiveness is undeserved, yours and theirs, and releases condemnation. Personified forgiveness is earned, only yours, and is temporary.
My point is this, we have a God who is so much greater than what we give Him credit for. So much greater than anything we could imagine. We won’t have all the answers.
And in fact, it doesn’t even always make sense the way His divinity manifests itself.
But it’s real. It’s ours for the taking. It’s ours to experience. It’s happening. He is bursting at the seams wanting us to experience Him.
We’ve got to stop bringing Him to our level. Especially because, He is inviting us to His.
God, I humbly come before you and praise you for being a God who sees the heart and sees the intention. For being a God who meets me and walks this life with me. God, I am so sorry that I have chosen to personify you on so many occasions. I am sorry for the fact that I have looked at you, seen your beauty and forgotten again. Time and time again. God, I ask that today when this truth hits our minds that we would let it sink in and continue on this journey with you in all of our divinity. You don’t always make sense, but I don’t think you’re supposed to. I don’t think that your greatness can make sense to our flesh all the time. God, I thank you for allowing me to be a part of your kingdom. You are enough. None of my thoughts are needed. Thank you though, for inviting me into your place. You alone are worthy. I love you. In Your Son’s matchless name I pray, Amen.
